Smiles.

After an incredibly hectic first week back at school, I was more than happy to spend today baking up a storm. A day in the kitchen is simply the perfect way to relax. However, relaxation was not, in fact, my main reason for today's 'session'.  Tomorrow afternoon, I will be taking a cupcake decorating workshop with a group of 12-year old girls.  One of my colleagues runs a wonderful program called GirlLife.  In a nutshell, GirlLife gives these girls an opportunity to broaden their world view by seeing that there is so much more for them in life than they may have experienced.  I simply cannot wait to show you some of their creations which we intend to enjoy in a lovely high tea. 

In order to conduct such a workshop, of course, I have to prepare the cupcakes for the girls to decorate.  So I was busy, busy, busy.  Naturally, when I found that I had some extra cupcakes, I couldn't resist having a mess around with some of the yummy toppers that I had prepared for tomorrow! I baked my Mum's Chocolate Cake recipe before topping with Vanilla Buttercream and a sweet chuck of liquorice allsort. Both my chocolate cake and buttercream recipes are tried and true.  How could you not look at these and smile?

F. x

Tea Time Tempter

I have found the perfect tea time cake.  Now, I understand that this sounds like quite a claim but it's completely true!  In fact, I have made this cake twice this week.  Initially, the desire to make this cake came from the gorgeous fresh oranges that were taking over my fruit bowl and filling my house with the scent of citrus.  I took it along to a morning tea with my ladies, warm from the oven and all agreed that it was perfection.  It could be described as a dense cake, delightfully moist and yet at the same time, it is not at all heavy.  It's not overly sweet at all and a big, fat wedge goes down a treat with a freshly brewed pot of English Breakfast. 

As I said, the first time I baked this cake, I served it warm from the oven with a sweet drizzle of orange juice and caster sugar.  My husband was very pleased that some cake actually made it home from our morning tea, so I decided to make another one for him to take with his lunch.  This time though, I wanted to finish the cake with a thick swirl of light buttercream and some finely grated rind.  It just looks so delightfully homely - I adore it and just couldn't help but 'test' my creation straight away.  I just know that this cake is going to become a firm favourite.  Perhaps, it already has.  My dear friend, Emma, is today baking this cake and intends to whip up an orange cream cheese frosting to finish it off. 

I just can't help but sing the praises of this darling cake and have missed the biggest positive of all - it is all blitzed together in five minutes with the food processor.  Could it be any more fantastic?  No, it could not.  This recipe comes from the beautiful Janelle Bloom and can be found on her amazing web site, along with a myriad of other quick, fabulous recipes.

Whole Orange Cake

220g chopped navel oranges (this was 1 and a half oranges for me)

185g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups S R Flour

Pulse the chopped orange 3 - 4 times in the bowl of a food processor.  Add butter, sugar and extract before pulsing until combined.  At this stage, the mixture may look curdled but is fine.  Pop the eggs into the bowl and pulse before adding flour.  It is important just to pulse until flour is incorporated and not over mix.  Pour the batter into a prepared 23cm springform tin and cook in a 170 degree oven (lower for fan-forced) for 60 - 70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Whipped Orange Buttercream

145g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Beat butter for 5 minutes until colour lightens.  Mix in 1 cup of icing sugar well before adding the orange juice.  Beat for a minute.  Add last cup of icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer on high for 8-10 minutes.  Buttercream should be light in colour and texture.  You can add more icing sugar or orange juice until it reaches your desired consistency.

F. x

Lovecakes

Oh goodness!  It does appear that I have gone slightly cupcake mad but I just couldn't help but share these ones with you.

Every week, I bake a batch of cupcakes for my hunky husband to take in his lunch every day.  In so much, these are not truly cupcakes, but lovecakes.  It's quite sweet really.  We have a ritual whereby, I bake the cupcakes and he gets very excited about how good they are.  Despite there sometimes being copious amounts of lovecakes, he doesn't even like taking extras into work to share - they are HIS.  When this is the case, he will simply eat another cake after dinner, just to get through them in the week.

This week, I decided to try a recipe that I haven't used before - a good ol' Women's Weekly favourite.  Cream Cheese Lemon Cakes.  I love how citrus cuts through the overt sweetness of the cake while the cream cheese offers a subtle tang on the palette.  Wrapped up in their gorgeous green polka-dot cases, these lovecakes just seem like happiness in a cupcake.  I topped them with a Buttercream flavoured with some finely grated lemon zest.  While I thought of colouring the buttercream a lovely pastel yellow, I am glad that I didn't as they are perfect, just as they are.

Cream Cheese Lemon Lovecakes

90g unsalted butter, softened

90g cream cheese, softened

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind

150g caster sugar

2 eggs

50g SR flour

75g P flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and prepare your baking cups.  Beat together the butter, cream cheese, rind, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.  This is definitely one for the electric mixer.

Sift in the flours and beat on a low speed until combined. You will have quite a thick batter.

Divide batter into baking cups and smooth the surface. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out fairly clean. Allow to cool.

Lemon Buttercream

125g unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups icing sugar, sifted

1-2 tsp lemon rind, finely grated

1-2 tbsp milk

Beat butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.  Grate in lemon rind and thin buttercream to the desired consistency with the milk.  Pipe onto your lovecakes.

Lovely!

F. x

Birthday Happiness

While I am still patiently awaiting my birthday of 2012, this week marked the birthday of a very special lady - my teaching partner, Mel!  In order to celebrate this exciting event (sadly, I always tend to get more excited about other people's birthday than my own!) a baking fest was in order.  Nothing less than wonderful would do.  Here is what I came up with:  Caramel Maple Mudcakes with Maple and Vanilla Bean Buttercream, topped with a Flaked Almond Praline.  Insanely phenomenal!

These cupcakes tasted absolutely amazing.  A true feast for the tastebuds, not to mention the eyes!  These are simply beautiful and the visual impact when presented is fabulous.  It is very important to bake these lovelies to share, otherwise, you might very well eat the whole lot by yourself (and justifiably so!).  This recipe bakes 12 so I doubled it.  The recipes for the buttercream and praline, however, make considerable amounts so no need to double - perhaps even half them!  You truly will not regret making these cupcakes.  They are special cupcakes, to be prepared for special people.

Caramel Maple Mudcake

60mL maple syrup

160mL milk

120g dark brown sugar

150g unsalted butter, chopped

75g white chocolate

150g P flour

50g S R flour

1 egg

After you've preheated your oven to 160 degrees, place the maple syrup, milk, sugar, butter and chocolate in a saucepan.  Melt over a low heat, stirring continuously.  Once completely melted and combined, pour into your mixing bowl and leave to cool for 15 minutes.  Sift in both flours and mix until just combined. Beat the egg lightly before whisking into batter until smooth.  Divide the mixture between your baking cups.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer (you want a few crumbs on the skewer).  Once out of oven, allow to cool completely.

Maple Vanilla Bean Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

2 tsp maple syrup

Whip butter and 3 cups of sifted icing sugar together until smooth and light.  Mix in vanilla bean paste and maple syrup to flavour.  If buttercream is too wet, add remaining icing sugar.

Flaked Almond Praline

1 cup caster sugar

4 tbsp cold water

1/2 cup flaked almonds

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.  Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir until sugar has dissolved.

Increase heat to high - no more stirring allowed!  You are permitted to lightly swirl the saucepan once, but that is all.  Boil until mixture turns a deep amber colour.  Remove from heat and leave to sit until bubbles have subsided.  Add almonds.

Pour mixture over baking tray.  You can use a spatula to spread it out to ensure that the praline is nice and thin.  Allow to cool then break praline into shards.

Put it all together and...Voila!

F. x

The Queen Bean

Generally, Vanilla (as a flavour) has people in a couple of camps.  You may be one of those who classes Vanilla as bland, the option when there are no other options.  Perhaps you quite enjoy the creaminess of a Vanilla milk shake and don't mind Vanilla at all.  The other side in this flavour-triangle is the Vanilla lover - not just content with Vanilla as a flavour but also as a shower gel, moisturiser and room fragrance...this is moi.  Vanilla may well be boring and uninspiring in cooking if you have only been exposed to cheap imitation vanillas, such as Vanilla Essence.  Once you have gone down the 'real' vanilla track, that is, vanilla beans, vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste, you simply won't be able to go back.

These wonderful little cakes are soft and luscious, stunning white with the tiny little black flecks of vanilla bean.  But I hear you thinking, is that it?  No, my darlings, that is not...it.  They are topped with the most amazing vanilla buttercream.  It truly tastes like creamy vanilla ice-cream, full of gorgeous flavourful vanilla paste.  These are the Queen 'Bean' of Vanilla Cupcakes.  In fact, this exact recipe was crowned "The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake" by experimental blog The Cupcake Project.  For this very reason, I will allow you to follow the link for the recipe rather than reproducing it here.  Stef has included some amazing tips which include baking yourself a 'test cupcake' prior to baking the batch, ensuring you have the perfect cooking time and cupcake result.  I really couldn't not share this recipe with you.

Delicious!

F. x